


No Choice At All

by ladyoneill



Series: Shadows Of The Moon: Full Moon Ficlets [40]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Forced Bonding, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-09
Updated: 2013-11-09
Packaged: 2018-01-01 00:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1038132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyoneill/pseuds/ladyoneill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John comes home to an empty house...or so he believes.  Instead, he finds Peter waiting for him and comes to a bitter decision.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Choice At All

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the fullmoon ficlet prompt "choices" and the first and possibly only story in the series from a POV other than Stiles' or Peter's. There are references to statutory rape in this ficlet.

The house is dark when John gets home around eight after a shift made longer by some idiot knocking over one of the mini-marts in the next town. Sitting in his cruiser, he tiredly rubs his eyes and worries about his son.

He's pretty sure he knows where Stiles is, where he always is these days when he's not in school or in his bed asleep, and his heart sinks. He's afraid Stiles thinks he has to do this to protect John.

He knows that Stiles is afraid that, if John goes after him, Hale will kill him, that Peter doesn't care enough about him to have any concern over him hating him for killing his father.

John finds it hard to believe that any man could be that callous, but he hasn't seen them together, so he doesn't really know how Hale treats Stiles.

Except...

Stiles isn't a wallflower. He's not a pushover. 

He admitted to going to Peter willingly, to...enjoying what they do together.

John doesn't understand that at all and the thought, every time it skitters through his mind, turns his stomach. 

It's not that Hale's a werewolf or a man, neither matters if Stiles is happy, but, Peter is more than twice his kid's age, and Stiles _isn't_ happy.

Sighing, John finally forces himself to get out of the car and heads up the brick path to the front door. Opening it, he banishes the darkness with a flick of the switch, and then freezes.

The cop in him knows he's not alone.

Silently drawing his gun and flicking off the safety, he glances into the living room and finds it empty, then turns to the dining room, with its narrower opening. He carefully enters gun first, flipping on the light as he does.

Peter Hale sits nonchalantly at the head of his dining room table, an enigmatic look on his face.

John stills, his finger trembling on the trigger and he so wants to pull it, but he knows it won't do anything but make a bloody mess and create a stack of paperwork. Slowly he lowers his gun, reholsters it, and glares at the intruder.

"I thought we should talk."

"Do you think there's anything you can say that will stop me from either shooting you or arresting you for statutory rape?"

Hale's lips twist into a smirk and John fights down the building rage. This man, this monster, touches his son.

"He came to me." Before John can think to protest, Hale waves him off and then to a seat. "Please, Sheriff, sit. I'm not here to discuss what can't be undone."

"Killing you will undo it."

"Do you think Stiles is prepared to raise a werewolf cub on his own?"

Numb at the thought, John sinks into the chair at the opposite end of the table. "Is it...?"

"Probably. We won't know until a week or so after it's born and it won't shift until puberty, but that's not really the issue here."

"What is the issue?" John bites out, because the almost lackadaisical tone to Hale's voice is pissing him off.

"The choices you have."

Confused, John stares at him for a minute and maybe begins to understand the attraction for his hyper, gregarious son. There's a _presence_ to Hale. "Stiles thinks that if I attack you or arrest you, you'll kill me."

"Stiles is being overly dramatic about a lot of things. Mostly I choose to find it amusing. What do you think?"

"I think that Stiles would never forgive you."

"And do you think that matters to me?"

"Yes."

Hale's eyes meet his for a moment, then the man nods. "He doesn't want to believe that I want more than just the power I gain from our bond, our cub. That's his choice. He's angry and upset. I do understand that, Sheriff, but I wouldn't have done anything differently. That was _my_ choice. We have to live with our choices and their consequences."

"You keep mentioning choices but you didn't give Stiles any." John keeps his voice hard, cold, because the thought of this man forcing _anything_ on Stiles makes him want to shatter from pain and hatred. If he loses that control, he's afraid of what he might do.

"Where our mating and cub are concerned, yes, you're right. I'm a complete bastard, I admit it. But, Stiles came to me and he kept coming to me. I didn't ask for the sex and I didn't ask for him to become my Emissary. You can't force the latter. The relationship between Alpha and Emissary must be willingly agreed to by both."

"But you knew, if he agreed, you knew what you were going to do."

"Yes. To rise to Sheriff at such a young age, isn't just about glad-handing the public. You have to be a good cop, and a better tactician. You have to think both outside the box and several steps ahead. I do that as well. So does Stiles, by the way. He's not a naive innocent. He never was."

"I know," John bites out.

"So, think, Sheriff. What choices do you have?"

He thinks, and then takes out his gun and puts it on the table. "Currently I don't have the means to kill you. Regular bullets. If I arrest you, you'll most likely escape, and even if you don't, I'll have to put Stiles through the embarrassment and pain of questioning and public exposure. He may not be innocent, but he's fragile." He takes a deep breath, fingers the grip of the gun, and lets out a sigh. "Whether or not you'll kill me or even hurt me, I can't risk that. I also can't let you force me out of my kid's life, which we haven't talked about, but you probably can do it by playing on his fear, so really the only _choice_ I have is to accept you and your relationship with Stiles, the baby he's carrying, and all the things you've done to him." With a huff, he pushes back from the table, rises and heads for the credenza with the whisky. "That's a bitter pill to swallow."

"But you'll swallow it for him," Peter says softly, and John glances over at him, sees the acceptance in his cool blue eyes.

"I'll do anything for him."

"Good." Hale stands and moves towards the front hall. "He needs someone who loves him unconditionally."

John doesn't know why he asks it. "Will that ever be you?" but, he's not surprised when his only answer is the opening and closing of the front door.

End


End file.
